Christopher Capozzola

Capozzola received an A.B. in social studies from Harvard College in 1994 and an M.A. in history from Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University, formally Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private research university in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 by royal charter from King George II as King's College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State and the fifth oldest in the United States. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 and adopted the university name and moved to Manhattan's Morningside Heights in 1896. It has 17 schools and four affiliated colleges, with 35,978 students enrolled in fall 2025. Legal scholar Jennifer L. Mnookin became president on July 1, 2026.Open the full entry in 1997.⁠[1]

In 2001 he received the Organization of American Historians’ Louis Pelzer Memorial Award, and in 2001–2002 he was a visiting instructor at Middlebury College.⁠[1]

In 2002 he completed his PhD at Columbia University.⁠[2]

From that year he taught in the History Section of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.⁠[3]

In 2008 Oxford UniversityUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university in Oxford, England, where teaching existed in some form by 1096; it describes itself as the oldest university in the English-speaking world and is organised as a federal system of the university and dozens of self-governing colleges.Open the full entry Press published his first book, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen. Then an associate professor of history at MIT, he argues that World War I blurred the lines between mobilization and social control and that Americans ceded power and some key freedoms to the federal government.⁠[4]

A review called it a fine study of how the stresses of war changed US society, while noting that it would have benefited from a comparative dimension.⁠[5]

In 2010 the book won the New England American Studies Association’s Lois P. Rudnick Book Prize.⁠[1]

Since 2011 he has been a Distinguished Lecturer of the Organization of American Historians, and he has appeared on television programs including American Experience, History Detectives and Who Do You Think You Are?⁠[6]

From 2014 to 2017 he served on the College Board’s development committee for the Advanced Placement exam in US History, and in 2018 he was named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT’s highest honor for undergraduate teaching.⁠[7]

In 2014, then an associate professor of history at MIT, he wrote in The Diplomat about the long relationship between the US and Philippine militaries and the handling of an alleged murder by a US service member.⁠[8]

From 2015 to 2017 he served as MIT’s secretary of the faculty.⁠[3]

He served as head of MIT History from 2020 to 2022.⁠[6]

On July 28, 2020, Basic Books published his 480-page Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America’s First Pacific Century, which traces how generations of Filipinos served in and alongside the US armed forces after US troops occupied the Philippines in 1898, and how war and military service forged an enduring yet fraught alliance.⁠[9]

A review describes it as a comprehensive chronicle of the US–Philippine military alliance, from the 1898 Spanish-American War and the war against Filipino insurgents through the Bataan Death March, Philippine independence in 1946, the Cold War and cooperation after 9/11.⁠[10]

In July 2021 he wrote in The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is an American daily newspaper founded in Washington in 1877, known for its role in the Pentagon Papers case and the Watergate investigation. Run by the Meyer–Graham family for eighty years from 1933, it has been owned personally by Jeff Bezos since 2013.Open the full entry that for the Philippines independence from the US did not mean national sovereignty, writing that “it’s worth recalling the moments in our past when we have failed to support the independence of others.”⁠[11]

On August 1, 2022, he became senior associate dean of MIT Open Learning, overseeing open education offerings including OpenCourseWare, MITx and MicroMasters; he already had five courses published on OpenCourseWare.⁠[3]

On September 14, 2022, he appeared on episode 320 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast; topics included how World War I started, the US and World War I, the US military, the war in Ukraine, the American Civil War, World War II, nationalism, US elections, Donald Trump and the Philippine–American War.⁠[12]

In 2023 he was appointed to the US Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee as its member specially qualified in American history.⁠[13]

He is MIT’s Elting E. Morison Professor of History, teaching political and legal history, war and the military, and the history of international migration, and researching citizenship, war and the military in modern American history.⁠[6]

Active in public history, he co-curated The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914-1919, a centennial project, and serves as academic adviser to the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project; he is a former middle school history teacher.⁠[13]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Official website: https://www.mit.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[7]

Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee: Official website: https://www.ccac.gov/ (opens in a new window)⁠[13]